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UFP Starfleet Flag Officer's Handbook
Introduction A Starfleet Flag Officer is one of the finest and highest ranking officers within the whole Starfleet and does ususally bear a great amount of responsibility and authority. Most Flag Officers will also find, that their work upon receive promotion to the flag ranks becomes much different and - most importantly - much more complex. They do not just have responsibility for their ship and their crew, but for larger Starfleet assets, fleets or even whole sectors up to Starfleet as a whole. This Handbook is intended to help the new Flag Officer getting started and settled into their office. It will discuss general rules and regulations, tasks, requirements and everything else, that is useful for the Flag Officer in their new assignment. Main Differences between Line Officers and Flag Officers Probably the biggest difference between the Line Officers and the Flag Officer is the field of responsibility and assignments. While the Line Officer in most cases works within their department and branch, either as a member, later as Depatment Head - being ship/station Commanding Officer, when in the command branch, the tasks shift greatly with promotion to Flag Officer ranks. The Flag Officer is a leader of Starfleet, who is not just in charge of a single ship or of their respective branch or department. The Flag Officer if a member of any branch, other than command, becomes division or sub-division head within their branch or even branch commander. The Flag Officer of the command branch is no longer in charge of their ship or station, but assume command positions within Starfleet Command, where they become assigned to Sectors, as Fleet or Squadron Commanders, or large facilities to command. The Flag Officer does not just command a single unit, but is usually responsible for a particular assignment in their branch and within whole Starfleet. As an example: The Operations Officer, who does receive promotion to Flag Officer ranks and becomes assigned Chief of Communications, is responsible for the whole Communciations division of Starfleet, with all its personnel and assets. It is their job, to make the communications work without problems and their failure could possibly leave billions of people, ships and assets without a way to communicate. Also, the Duties of a Flag Officer are more administrative, than hand on action. They no longer command a ship, or work actively in their branch. Instead they plan missions, operations, or in the above example, they plan the locations of communication arrays and subspace relay stations, in order to set up and maintain a working communications grid. While advancing to the higher Flag Officer ranks, the positions become more and more administrative and the Flag Officer has more and more people, doing their work for them.v Requirments for Flag Officers While there are no general requirements for becoming a Flag Officer, other than experience and time in service, Starfleet does traditionally only pick the very best and most experienced officers for promotion into the flag ranks. Out of these elected into the flag ranks, even less will make it into the higher Flag Officer ranks, such as Vice Admiral or Admiral, and only one single Flag Officer can be appointed Fleet Admiral at all times. With this in mind, only a handful of all Starfleet officers will be given the opporunity, to join the Flag Officer ranks and even less can expet to go higher up. Those who do, can and should however be proud of them and continue holding up the highest standards of Starfleet, because they are a handful of many, with the privellege of running a greater part of Starfleet. Promotion to Flag Officer Promotion to Flag Officer ranks is different than promotion for Line Officers. In addition there is a rank cap for Flag Officers and a position cap for higher ranked Flag Officer. This protects Starfleet from having too many Flag Officers active at any time but also makes advancement into the flag ranks more difficult. Presidential Approval Unlike line officers, every promotion into flag ranks does require approval by the President of the United Federation of Planets. The UFP Promotion Board is responsible for creating a list of eligible officers, which will then be passed to the Secretary of Starfleet for review. The Secretary of Starfleet will again review the candidates and draft a final list of recommended officers, which will then be sent to the President, who will make the final call which officer or officers will receive promotion. Federation Council Approval Once the President of the United Federation of Planets has made their decision about the officer(s), that are to receive promotion, these candidates have to be proposed to the Federation Council. The Federation Council then - by majority vote - will approve or decline the promotion. Only with Federation Council approval, the promotion to Flag Officer ranks can take place. Without approval such a promotion is not possible unless the President of the United Federation of Planets uses their emergency powers, which are however reserved for times of war and great crisis. Rank and Position Cap Unlike most Line Officer Ranks, the Flag Officer positions have a rank and position cap. This means, that in whole Starfleet only a certain amount of Flag Officers of each rank may be active at any given time. Additionally, the higher flag ranks of Vice Admiral and above are position bond ranks and are temporary. This means, that a Flag Officer does only hold such a rank, while in office. If the time in office has passed and the Flag Officer is not reappointed to that or an other office and not promoted to a higher rank flag position, they will convert back to their permanent two-star Flag Officer rank (Rear Admiral). This is a complex topic and more information about this can be found in the UFP Starfleet Promotion Guidelines and at the UFP Promotion Board. Please feel free to contact the board with any further questions or problems in this regard. It should lastly be mentioned, that there may be made exceptions from the rank and position caps of Flag Officers on the order of the President of the United Federation of Planet during times of war, crisis or great need. Flag Officer Ranks There are the following Flag Officer ranks within Starfleet: * Commodore (CDE or CDRE)(A-1) * Rear Admiral (RADM)(A-2) * Vice Admiral (VADM)(A-3) * Admiral (ADM)(A-4) * Fleet Admiral (FADM)(A-5) * Commander in Chief* (CinC)(A-*) (*) The Commander in Chief is technically a Flag Officer, as they are in command of all Armed Forces of the United Federation of Planets. Since this position is however exclusively held by the President of the United Federation of Planets, the position is not really just a flag rank, but also a civilian one. It has been listed here for the sake of completeness. Authority The Flag Officer does have a great amount of authority within Starfleet and especially within their respective branch or division. They outrank Starfleet Captains and Station COs in many cases, which gives them access to pretty much every ship or station within Starfleet, along with the authority to command it. Depending on their position a Flag Officer may additionally be authoritze, to undertake or order special operations or may be granted an extended amount of authority. All Flag Officers are however expected to serve Starfleet to the best of their abilities and as muster officers, following all Starfleet regulations and procedures as well as Federation Law at all times. This makes it necessary for them not to only know their department and its general standing orders, but also have a good knowledge and understanding of all Starfleet regulations and directives. Day to Day Operations Day to Day operations of the Flag Officer vary, depending on the assignment. The Flag Officer is however a senior officer and leader, which means that his most tasks are administrative. They do oversee their department or division or branch and allocate necessary ressources, to complete mission objectives and to fullfil orders. They work on personnel transfer requests, request additional personnel, ships or resources from Starfleet and may define internal rules or guidelines by which their department, division or branch has to be working. The Flag Officer does in most cases report to a higher ranked Flag Officer or - ultimately - to the Federation Council or The President of the United Federation of Planets. The report is in most cases done monthly. However depending on standing policies set by their superiors or on request by any authorized person, such reports can also be requested weekly or even daily. Training The Flag Officer does have a great amount of experience in their branch and field of work. This makes them excellent traininer, for other Flag Officers or Senior Line Officers. For that reasons a Flag Officer is expected, to share their knowledge with other memebers of their branch, division or in whole Starfleet whenever possible. This will benefit Starfleet as a whole and is also an important part of being a Flag Officer. Retirement A Flag Officer retires in four ways, which are: * By reaching the Retirement Age * On their own request * After their term in office has passed without them being reappointed or promoted * Through dishonorable discharge Most commonly in the UFP, a Flag Officer does retire for one of the two first reasons, meaning either by reaching the statutory retirement age or on their own request, because of time issues or because of other reasons. Technically a Flag Officer would also - forcibly - retire, if they hold a position with a temporary Flag Officer rank of A-3 or above and would - after their term in office has ended - neither be reappointed nor promoted or reassigned. In that case, the Flag Officer would convert back to their old A-2 Flag rank and would remain unassigned, until a new assignment is being given to them. This case does however rarely occur, as Starfleet is generally interested in keeping its Flag Officers. There is of course also the way to retire through dishonorable discharge, though this is merely a retirement, but a forced leave of Starfleet as a direct result of breaking Federation Laws or Starfleet Regulations. Please Note: A Flag Officer does - like every other officer too - keep their rank, they held before they retired. This does count for temporary ranks as well, so it may happen once in a while, that a Flag Officer who either wishes to retire, or who does not expect to be reappointed for their office or promoted, after their time in office has elapsed, retires on their request while still in their office, usually requesting the resignation taking effect at the end of their turn in office or shortly before it. The advantage of this is, that these Flag Officers keep their otherwise temporary rank (Example: Rear Admiral). This is possible, because the statutory rank and position cap for the flag ranks does only consider active Starfleet Flag Officer and not retired personnel. However, if such an officer - given they have not been dishonorably discharged or reached the statutory retirement age - wishes to return, they have no rights to be assigned a position matching their rank. If such a position is not available, Starfleet may - in rare occassions - offer a higher Flag Position, resulting in promotion to the new Flag Rank, or - which is most likely to happen - offer a lower Flag position, resulting in the demotion of the Flag Officer to either their new temporary rank, matching their position, or to their permanent R-2 rank. Please note: A retired Flag Officer does receive - unlike Line Officers - many benefits, if they leave Starfleet in good standing. They may continue to serve as Senior Advisors to the President of the United Federation of Planets or the Federation Council, may guest at Starfleet Academy and do also have a special status in the forums and communications media within the United Federation of Planets. A Flag Officer does also maintain their access levels - though possibly with some minor restrictions - alloing them access to the main Federation Database and other sources of information. Activity Requirements It comes with the position of a Flag Officer, that activity requirements are kind of high. The Flag Officer has a lot of responsibility and a lot of people and resources under their command which they have to manage. There are reports needed to be filed and there may be other branches or even the Federation Council, awaiting a Flag Officer's report or attendence to their meetings. This said, a Flag Officer should expect to be required active on a daly or two-day base. In addition to their general tasks coming with their assignment, they can also expect to be requested active during political or diplomatic or civilian events of the United Federation of Planets, such as sessions of the Federation Council, Diplomatic Celebrations, etc. Anyone who wishes to join the flag ranks of Starfleet or is offered such a position, should consider their available time at hand thoroughly. There is a lot of work for a Flag Officer and it takes a long time to get settled into it - even more, if quickly a new Flag Officer has to do the same work, because the prior has retired quickly or went inactive. This might slow down the whole Starfleet and its operations and may even post a risk to the United Federation of Planets as a whole. A good guideline is: If one is already very busy with running their ship and has to reschedule and rotate in real life already, it is likely not a good idea, to run for a Flag Officer position. The work pensum is expected to be at least two- to three times more than that of a Commanding Officer. Final Words This concludes the Flag Officer manual of Starfleet. We hope that this handbook has provided you some basic information about the Flag Officer of Starfleet and that it will help you getting started quickly. If you have any questions or ideas for additions to this manual, please feel free to contact Starfleet. In case you have just received promotion to a Flag Officer rank and are hence reading this handbook: Congratulations! You have surely deserved it and are now one of Starfleet's finest officers! Keep up the good work. If you ever have any questions or if something is unclear, please do not hesitate to come back here and read over the Flag Officer manual or other handbooks again. Even though you call yourself an Admiral now, you are not expected to know everything! Credits 'Coming Soon...' Category: Important Documents Category: Handbooks and Manuals Category: Starfleet Manuals